Category: Pittsburgh Steelers

In addition to spending some time looking at the AFC win totals as set by folks in Las Vegas, Tuesday’s PFT Live looked at the NFC numbers.

“I feel real good about our offseason additions, whether it’s free agency or it’s the draft, the coaching staff. We were 9-7 the last two years, I think the team has improved personnel-wise from then, so we’re looking for bigger and greater things this year and years to come. With having Ziggy (Ansah) back healthy, that’s going to be a big thing. And coming back with our wide receiver corps, as you guys are seeing on the screen there, I think our passing offense is going to be just as good as last year, if not better. And with the additions in the running game and our offensive line, I think our offensive output will be even greater than last year.”

Detroit Lions head coach Matt Patricia was indicted on one count of aggravated sexual assault in 1996 but was never tried or convicted, according to Robert Snell of the Detroit News.

Here’s the first line from NFL.com’s article regarding the 37 underclassmen who weren’t drafted in 2018: “A record 106 underclassmen who were granted early eligibility for the 2018 NFL Draft entered Thursday hoping to receive the call of a lifetime, but only 69 did.”

Is it really a “call of a lifetime” if it comes in round six or seven? At that point, it’s better to be undrafted, so that the player can pick his next team instead of having his next team pick him. This allows the player, while working with his agent, to find the best place to learn, to develop, and ultimately to win a spot on the 53-man roster, based in large part on the existing depth chart at the player’s position.

The draft has only seven rounds (down from 12 and as many as 30); a roster has 53 spots. Plenty of undrafted players can and will make it in the NFL. As noted last night on Twitter, the drafted quarterbacks in 2003 were Carson Palmer, Byron Leftwich, Kyle Boller, Rex Grossman, Dave Ragone, Chris Simms, Seneca Wallace, Brian St. Pierre, Drew Henson, Brooks Bollinger, Kliff Kingsbury, Gibran Hamdan, and Ken Dorsey. Undrafted that year was a guy named Tony Romo.

The NFL debuted its international player pathway program in 2017 by assigning four players from overseas to NFC South teams and giving them roster exemptions to remain as the 11th player on the practice squad during the season.

I mean, he was here every day, working out through that dead period of winter where players tend to disappear. He was here. Davis Webb was on his hip, trying to learn. They were, like anyone would, trying to glean information from the past, connect dots even though we couldn’t talk football, and working out, training, watching our tape as much as they could without me guiding them through it.

You just knew he was a pro, the way he was handling himself. That was number one for me. Wow, this guy cares. At a time of year when some players may not be looking after themselves so well, he was taking great care of himself.There were good signs at the end of last year. Shurmur broke down all 16 games and found hope in the Giants’ 34-29 loss to the Eagles on Dec. 17. At that point, Manning had been benched, then reinstated, and was playing behind a shot line and without Odell Beckham or Brandon Marshall. And yet, Manning held the Giants in the game, throwing for 434 yards and three touchdowns.

Quinn also has some experience returning punts, and his best chance of making an NFL roster is likely to prove he can contribute on special teams. He thinks he has what it takes to prove that there shouldn’t have been 255 other players chosen before him.

The guy isn’t retiring or anything like that, Edmunds said of Ingram. He’s going to be back and we’re excited and we’re ready for him.

There is no greater bargain in sports than a starting NFL quarterback on a rookie contract. That deal grows by the nth degree when that quarterback was a mid-to-late-round pick, like Dak Prescott.

After paying Prescott pennies, the Dallas Cowboys brass knows it will need to ante up soon.

Yeah, you know at that position, it kind of is what it is, EVP Stephen Jones said Wednesday, via the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. You kind of, when the time comes, [expect to pay him]. I know Dak is going to have a good year this year. I hope it’s up there. It’s going to be as he deserves. He was a fourth-round pick. No one deserves to get paid fairly more than he does.

“Give him credit where credit is due. The 3 was big-time. Definitely huge,” Oladipo said. “But who’s to say they even run that play? We don’t know what happens. It’s unfortunate. It really sucks that they missed that [goaltending call].”

Chad Pinder put the Athletics ahead 3-1 with a two-run homer in the sixth. Matt Olson’s RBI single in the seventh scored Chapman, who had doubled, and Mark Canha followed with a two-run homer to up the lead to 6-1. Jed Lowrie had a two-run triple in the eighth.

Carlos Correa singled in George Springer in the fourth, the first hit off Manaea since Seattle’s Taylor Motter hit a one-out solo homer in the fifth inning on April 15.

Manaea’s 14-inning hitless streak was the longest for the A’s since the franchise moved to Oakland, topping John Odom’s 13 innings on June 1 and 7, 1968. The only pitcher to throw consecutive no-hitters was Cincinnati’s Johnny Vander Meer against Brooklyn and the Boston Bees in June 1938.

Keuchel allowed a season-high six runs on seven hits in seven innings. Keuchel had allowed three runs or fewer in each of his five previous starts this season.

Houston has lost three of its last four after winning six straight.

On Wednesday, the commission — formed by NCAA president Mark Emmert after a bribery scandal rocked the sport — recommended lifetime bans for cheating coaches; the end of the one-and-done path to the NBA draft; college eligibility for undrafted underclassmen; and more NCAA authority on the grassroots scene.

Jim Haney, executive director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, said Friday he expects the commission’s announcement to enhance the sport.

“If we have another episode where the Department of Justice or the FBI have to once again get involved in the business of men’s basketball, the resounding response will be ‘nothing’s changed,'” Haney said in a video released Friday. “We have to change. We’ve gotta make sure that our conduct is carried out with integrity, recruiting is taking care of with integrity and we’ve gotta protect the integrity of our sport and the integrity of our profession going forward.”

The NABC had a conference call with key members on Thursday one day after the commission released its lengthy report.

Haney said Kansas coach Bill Self and Saint Joseph’s coach Phil Martelli, who are members of the NCAA oversight committee, will play key roles in implementing the recommendations in the coming months.

Blake Snell might have caught a bad break when the Tampa Bay Rays’ game was postponed on Tuesday, as it meant his next start was delayed by a day, resulting in a matchup against the Boston Red Sox rather than the Baltimore Orioles.

Still, while Friday’s game might be one of his few specific matchups to avoid in leagues with any sort of starts or innings cap, his performance so far this season has exhibited enough of an uptick that he’s worth keeping in there in the vast majority of leagues, regardless of the foe.

After all, this is the team Sean Manaea no-hit six days ago, right?

A shift in his stance on the mound contributed to this improvement, as Snell moved from the third-base side to closer to the middle of the pitching rubber late last season. The shift helped alter his release point, which also contributed to better results from his signature breaking pitches — his curveball and slider. So far this season, Snell’s curve and slider have been worth a combined 3.3 runs above average, already more than he had in 2016 or 2017.

The city’s Public Improvement Commission unanimously approved a proposal by current Red Sox ownership to call the stretch of road Jersey Street, which it was originally named before being changed in 1977 to honor Yawkey the year after he died.

The Red Sox praised the commission’s decision in a statement.

“We recognize we have a long way to go, but remain committed to building a spirit of diversity, inclusivity, and openness within our front office and our ballpark,” the team said. “We look forward to working with the business and civic leaders of Boston to continue to bring about social change in our community.”

The vote drew immediate condemnation from the Yawkey Foundations, the charity named for Yawkey and his wife, Jean.

“As we have said throughout this process, the effort to expunge Tom Yawkey’s name has been based on a false narrative about his life and his historic 43-year ownership of the Red Sox,” the organization said. “The drastic step of renaming the street, now officially sanctioned by the city of Boston (and contradicting the honor the city bestowed upon Tom Yawkey over 40 years ago), will unfortunately give lasting credence to that narrative and unfairly tarnish his name.”

The Utah Jazz has partnered with SpaceStation Gaming, the multi-game esports team founded by Salt Lake City-based social media influencer Shaun “Shonduras” McBride, the two parties told ESPN on Friday.

With the partnership, the Jazz and SpaceStation will share marketing efforts and resources as they continue to push into the esports space. The deal is not a traditional investment, merger or acquisition, as done by many other professional sports teams or their owners, but focuses solely on cross-promoting and sharing of information between the basketball team and the esports organization.

“We weren’t just looking for someone to bring a bunch of money to the table,” McBride told ESPN. “We have a lot of traction with sponsors and opportunities, and SpaceStation has the capability to grow financially, so we weren’t looking necessarily for financial backing. Both of us looked at this partnership as an opportunity to learn from the other person, provide value to the other person and just over-deliver. There’s already been so many sponsor connections that we’ve shared back-and-forth — event, engagement and exposure opportunities, too. It’s just built off of how we can work together to build bigger.”

Smart came off the bench and had nine points, five rebounds, four assists and three blocks in his first action since right thumb surgery. He played 25 minutes wearing a protective splint and had a key assist to Horford late from the bottom of a scrum beneath three Milwaukee players.

“I just tried to make sure I got him the ball and it was going to take everything I had,” Smart said. “They weren’t taking it from me.”

Terry Rozier added 16 points and five assists for Boston. The home team has won all five games in the first-round series, and Game 6 is Thursday in Milwaukee.

Khris Middleton led the Bucks with 23 points, Jabari Parker added 17 points and eight rebounds, and Giannis Antetokounmpo had a series-low 16 points with 10 rebounds and nine assists.

The Celtics led by 16 before Milwaukee rallied to make it 74-70 with 7:33 left. Middleton scored later and was fouled to get Milwaukee within 84-79, but he failed to complete the three-point play.

A few possessions later, Smart managed to squeeze out the pass to Horford with three Bucks draped over him, and Horford easily dropped in a layup to make it 86-79 with 28.1 seconds left.

Milwaukee got within 87-84 after a layup by Eric Bledsoe, but the Celtics hit enough free throws the rest of the way to secure the win.

The Bucks entered the game shooting an NBA playoff-best 54 percent from the field, but they hit just 37 percent for the game (32 of 87) — a series low.

Boston needed an energy boost after slow starts in Games 3 and 4, and Smart gave the Celtics exactly that.

I agree that anyone can ask whatever they want, just like most posters can be as closed minded and/or racist as they want. It takes a great amount of courage to go against the norm and do it peacefully unlike so many other people that protest by hurting innocent kids at schools or bars or concerts.

Keep the players in the locker room during the anthem. Problem solved. You can’t force players to stand. It’s not in their contract or the collective bargaining agreement.

The right wing coopted the players message, and made their kneeling more about disrespecting the flag to avoid their real message, which was about unarmed black men shot and killed by police. This is what a society does when they want to ignore the plights people who are disenfranchised. If you’re a minority, and not gifted at athletics, or you’re one of a few fortunate enough to gain a great education, that flag stands for oppression.

Teams do have the right as the players are representing the teams while on the job and in uniform. They’re representing the team and if the customers don’t like it and boycott the team and or the league they’re within their rights to not hire someone that won’t adhere to company policy.

Everyone with a job has a certain set of standards/rules they must adhere too. Being a football player is a job plain and simple. These players are expected to act a certain way because their employer pays them to play football not take activist stances. When you strip away the it’s entertainment, its sport and all the other nonsense – it’s a job – there are rules – follow the rules. If you don’t like the rules you can be cut (fired) and do whatever you want. No one is telling these players what to do on their time but when they are on the field they are being played to play football and help make the organization they play for money.

Many claim to love freedom but what freedoms do you claim to love? This is very confusing on a philosophical level. It only makes sense on an emotional level. But emotional reactions are quite often irrational once the person calms down and can think rationally for themselves.

Thought Reid said he wouldn’t be kneeling this year,.Not sure why he was bothered by the question if he didnt plan on kneeling.Guy played hard, hope he gets a job somewhere and stays healthy.

The Milwaukee Bucks welcomed back 2016-17 Rookie of the Year Malcolm Brogdon for Monday night’s 102-86 win over the Orlando Magic.

Brogdon had been out since early February, about six weeks, with a partially torn left quadriceps tendon.

“I’m going. … I’m playing tonight,” Brogdon said earlier Monday.

Carlos Gomez added an RBI double in the third, and Adeiny Hechavarria made it 3-1 Rays with an RBI single in the fourth.

Rodriguez was charged with three runs and five hits in 3 2/3 innings. He struck out seven and walked two.

Rays: Manager Kevin Cash said Brad Miller tweaked his groin running out of the box. The plan was to have him checked out Sunday and evaluated again Monday morning.

Red Sox: Cora said Dustin Pedroia is progressing well. He is starting to run the bases, which is the next step in his rehab from left knee surgery. He took ground balls on Saturday and has been hitting for a month. “He’s moving well. He’s going side to side,” Cora said.

The Nuggets had upgraded Harris to “questionable” on the team’s injury report.

Denver has two games left — against the Blazers and Minnesota — and needs at least one victory to clinch a playoff spot.

The Nuggets have won six straight games and eight of 11 in a spirited push for the playoffs.

Harris, 23, has had a breakout season for the Nuggets, averaging 17.7 points, including 48.6 percent from the floor and 40 percent from 3-point range. Harris was injured on March 15.

Miami went 2 for 12 with runners in scoring position, stranded 10, hit into a double play and lost a runner on the bases.

The game was the first this year between the NL East rivals. The Mets went 7-12 against the Marlins last year.

After meeting with the Saints and Titans over the weekend and leaving both teams without a deal, the free agent defensive tackle could be visiting the Seahawks this week, Yahoo Sports reported.

The report noted Suh could also meet with the Rams while on the west coast.

“What a night,” Landeskog said.

Blues D Alex Pietrangelo played in his 617th career NHL game. He surpassed Bob Plager for second on the team’s all-time list for defensemen. … Colorado was without D Erik Johnson and G Semyon Varlamov, who are both sidelined by knee injuries. Varlamov won’t have a chance to play in the first round, coach Jared Bednar said. … Colorado had 28 home wins, matching a franchise record for wins that was set in 2000-01, when the team hoisted the Stanley Cup.

Blues: Offseason.

Avalanche: Face Nashville in the first round of the playoffs. The Avs were 0-3-1 against the Predators this season.

He rushed for 961 yards and three touchdowns with Indianapolis last season.

“We have a chance to go the distance,” MacLellan said. “I don’t know that we’re as deep or as experienced as we were last year, but I think the whole league is a little less of that. There’s probably a couple teams that are a little deeper that might have a chance, theoretically, of going farther, but I think we’re in the mix with the high-end teams.”

Everyone thought the Capitals were the highest of high-end teams in 2016 and 2017, and they lost to the eventual Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round each time. Williams has implied that favorite status didn’t suit the Capitals well, and Trotz said “the crown is quite heavy” for a team expected to win.

For the seventh time in his career, the Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin finished the NHL regular season as the league’s top scorer. With two goals Saturday against the Devils, Ovechkin capped his season with 49 scores.

Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome and coach John Harbaugh will be questioned Thursday concerning the collusion grievance filed by former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

Pro Football Talk reported the owner and coach will be questioned under oath at the team’s facility and Kaepernick has the option to attend. The free agent quarterback, who hasn’t played since 2016, previously attended Texans owner Bob McNair’s deposition in Houston.

Braves: 3B Johan Camargo (oblique) is expected to continue his rehab assignment through Wednesday and could be back by next weekend’s series with the Chicago Cubs.

Rockies: OF Charlie Blackmon, who left Saturday’s game in the 10th inning, was out of the starting lineup with back stiffness. “Charlie will be fine,” Black said. “A day-to-day situation.” … RHP Jeff Hoffman (shoulder) threw a bullpen session Sunday and is expected to pitch for Class A Advanced Lancaster on Tuesday.

Rockies: On Monday, Jon Gray (1-1, 2.45) will face the San Diego Padres for a second straight start after tossing seven shutout innings against them five days ago.

Newhouse, 29, is an eight-year veteran who spent last season with Oakland serving as the team’s starting right tackle where he made 14 starts. He is expected to push Jordan Mills for the starting right tackle job.

Bodine, 25, has been a full-time starter at center for the Bengals since they made him a fourth-round pick in 2014.

1B Ryon Healy flew back to Seattle on Monday to meet with Dr. Edward Khalfayan and review an MRI of his ankle, which he hurt Saturday during a postgame workout. Healy was put on the DL retroactive to Sunday and RHP Chasen Bradford was recalled from Triple-A Tacoma.

Mariners: DH Nelson Cruz (sprained right ankle) and C Mike Zunino (left oblique strain) resumed baseball activities Monday, and both could be back this weekend. OF Ben Gamel (right oblique strain) is getting at-bats at Tacoma and is also close to returning.

On a recent edition of ESPN’s NFL Live, analyst Matt Hasselbeck queued up plays from the Indianapolis Colts 2016 season. One showed Andrew Luck being pummeled by a defender. The next clip, just one play later, was of the Colts quarterback failing to connect with a wide open T.Y. Hilton.

That’s a throw, honestly, the quarterback from Bishop Chatard could have hit, Hasselbeck told IndyStar on Wednesday.

Hasselbeck, Luck’s former backup, wasn’t taking a shot at his friend. The 17-year NFL veteran was only trying to convey a simple message: Taking a beating takes a toll. Even the very best quarterbacks in the NFL, a class in which Luck absolutely belongs says Hasselbeck, can take only so much punishment before it begins to affect their game.

If Bradford can stay on the field, he might be an upgrade over Carson Palmer, Blaine Gabbert and Drew Stanton, but an aged roster got worse for the second consecutive offseason after losing Tyrann Mathieu, John Brown, Jaron Brown and Jared Veldheer.

Because they somehow went 8-8 last year, the Cardinals don’t even have a premium draft pick (No. 15). The record could also have them believing they can make a playoff push with a healthy Johnson in the backfield. But that’s unlikely because the defense and receiving corps have become too thin and Bradford doesn’t stand much of a chance behind a subpar offensive line.

ESPN now plans to broadcast the first two nights of the draft on both ESPN and ESPN2, and to simulcast Saturday’s draft coverage on both ESPN and ABC, according to the New York Post. The joint ESPN-ESPN2 broadcast will apparently give viewers a choice of two different broadcasts, an approach ESPN has previously used with big college football games.

The NFL has made the draft the signature event of its offseason, and no one has done more to help the league build it up than ESPN. But NFL Network has been chipping away at ESPN’s audience share the last few years, and when FOX agreed to put the draft on broadcast television, that looked like a serious blow to ESPN.

The decision to beef up its draft coverage is a statement from ESPN that it wants to remain viewers’ first choice as the home of the NFL draft. And it’s good news for fans, who will have more alternatives than ever for watching the draft.